History, Discussion and Recommendation to SBOE

College and Career Readiness

Kansas needs 64% of workers to have a post secondary certificate or degree.

• Approximately 40% need to be bachelor degrees or higher• Approximately 24% need to have a certificate or associate degree

Current status in Kansas is…..

• Just under 40% of all Kansas students graduating high school earn any type of post secondary completion (6 years post high school graduation).

“The entry ticket to the middle class today is a postsecondary education of some kind,” but too many kids are not coming out of K-12 prepared for that, and too many parents don’t get it, says Jon Schnur, the chairman of America Achieves.

College and Career Readiness

Mark Crawford - Hugoton Cindy Lane - KCK

Bill Bierman - Goodland Destry Brown - Pittsburg

Bill Hagerman - Nickerson Mischel Miller – Dodge City

Robert Morton - Coffeyville Steve Noble - Hillsboro

Michelle Sedler – KC Turner Mary Jo Taylor - Stafford

• Examine the definition of college and career readiness drafted by KSSA last year and;

• How will schools assess the cognitive skills to be college and career ready? What is needed to do this work?

• How will schools assess the 21st century soft skills necessary to be college and career ready?

• Provide recommendations to the KSSA Board of Directors, KSSA membership, KASB and KSDE.

KASB/USA Regional Summits

Summits held in:• Garden City• Valley Center• Girard• Oakley• Topeka• Concordia

What we learned from the field on College and Career Readiness:

• 60% 21st Century/Soft Skills• 32% Cognitive/Academic Skills• 8% Career Interest Develop Skills

College and Career Readiness DefinitionProblem Statement

The universal charge for Kansas schools, preschool through grade twelve, is that all students graduate from high school prepared for college and careers in a global society, meeting internationally established benchmarks of performance, and at every grade level performance is on-track and on-time for success. Conley (2010) defined college and career ready to be the level of preparation a student needs in order to enroll and succeed – without remediation – in credit bearing courses at a postsecondary institution or a certificate program enabling career pathway advancement. KSSA agrees with Conley and defines college and career readiness as:

College and Career Readiness Definition

 College AND Career Readiness is determined by academic/cognitive preparation, technical skills, employability/soft skills and career interest development.

College and Career Readiness Definition

Academic/Cognitive Preparation and Technical Skills are determined by: • Level of performance on college readiness exams

(Reading, Math, English, and Science) for full admittance to post-secondary institutions without the need for remediation (non-credit bearing courses) and/or

 • Achievement of technical credential or industry

certification (such as welding or Certified Nursing Assistant etc. )

College and Career Readiness Definition

Employability/Soft Skills are determined by:  • Basic Skills: reads, writes, listens, and

speaks well • Critical thinking skills: decisive, creative

thinking, solves problems, reasons

• Personal qualities: responsibility, self-esteem, sociability, access resources

 

College and Career Readiness Definition

Career Interest Development: • Ability to engage in exploration and planning

for career preferences leading to post-secondary success

• Exploration relevant to the students interests

 

Assessing Academic/Cognitive Preparation,

Technical and Employability/Soft SkillsCurrent research by Collins, McREL, Schmoker and others compels educators to measure the preparedness of our students for a prosperous future in a SINGLE, tightly coupled, meaningful and relevant assessment system. This system should be based on college and career standards, aligned to the national career readiness certifications and accepted by higher education for full admission, admittance into credit-bearing courses, and scholarship considerations. The provision for a single assessment system must take into account what students need in order to develop college and career readiness. Secondly, the assessment system must inform instruction based on high expectations and preparation for college and careers without the need for remediation. 

ACT Suite of Assessments

Academic/Cognitive Preparation

Employability/Soft Skills

Career Interest Development

ACT ASPIRE Grade 3-7

ACT ENGAGE ACT Career Interest Inventory

ACT EXPLORE Grades 7-9

National Career Readiness Certificate PLUS (ACT WorkKeys and ACT Talent)

ACT PLAN Grades 9-10

ACT Grades 11-12

National Career Readiness Certificate PLUS

Cognitive Workplace Skills: Applied Mathematics, Reading for Information and Locating Information

Work Discipline: Productivity and dependability

Teamwork: Tolerance, communication, and attitude

Customer Service Orientation: Interpersonal skills and perseverance

Managerial Potential: Persuasion, enthusiasm, and problem solving

College and Career ReadinessQuestions, Comments, Answers